ASSEN — Britain's Cal Crutchlow took his first MotoGP pole position Friday in a weather-hit Dutch TT qualifying session already without world champion Jorge Lorenzo who broke a collarbone in a crash Thursday. Crutchlow, riding for the non-works Yamaha Tech3 team, lapped the Assen circuit with a best time of one minute 34.398 seconds. The Coventry-born rider was the first Briton to qualify on pole in motorcycling's top category since Jeremy McWilliams in Australia in 2002. “It might have been a different story if Jorge wasn't injured but you can only beat the guys on track and I did that today,” said Crutchlow, who was second in the French Grand prix and third in Italy. “It would have been good to have a dogfight for pole position with Jorge because it was obvious before his crash that he was going to be the man to beat. Hopefully at some stage this year I'll be having a battle with him for the win. “I'm particularly pleased to be on pole because I've been struggling a bit with the bike in the dry,” added the Briton, who is fourth overall in the standings. “If we can make the bike calmer there is no reason why I can't go faster.” Spain's Marc Marquez, riding his works Honda with a fractured finger and toe after a crash in the morning, and Germany's LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl completed the front row. Championship leader Dani Pedrosa crashed his Honda with six and a half minutes remaining and qualified fifth. Lorenzo had two-hour surgery in Spain in the early hours of Friday before flying back to Assen to support his Yamaha team. “The world champion has made the decision to return immediately to Assen to spend the remainder of the grand prix weekend with his team,” the statement said. The Mallorcan came off while traveling at over 200kph during a wet practice session Thursday and flew to Spain that evening for an operation that lasted two hours. “It's been a challenging operation, apparently successful,” doctor Michele Zasa said. — Agencies
